Welcome to Renewal of Faith

Welcome to Renewal of Faith.org. This is not a site designed to convert you. I started this web page to share my faith journey with others. I believe this is important to help others find their own faith. My own journey is not the "typical story" of the past but it is beginning a more common story today. I was baptized into the Catholic Church as an infant, received First Communion, Penance, and Confirmation. After Confirmation, I did not attend Church for sixteen years. There was NEVER a time where I did not believe in God. When things were bad I prayed but prayer was not a regular part of my life in any way.

As an adult, I found something was missing in my life and began searching. I found what I was looking for at Church. God renewed my faith. And it happened in a rapid transformation. After sixteen years of not going to church, my return immediately led me to going every week. Church seemed to mean more now. After six months, I started volunteering at my parish (Schuyler Catholic Community). The more I did at church, the more I enjoyed it. Through this God called me to be a priest and I entered seminary in 2000.

Through the education, formation, and ministerial experience as a seminarian, I have continued to grow in my relationship with Jesus, being ever renewed in my faith. A Renewal of Faith is not simply a sudden and significant increase in faith. It may include a sudden change but a Renewal of Faith is something we experience throughout our lives. It is not a singular event but an ongoing part of our spiritual lives.

Perhaps one way to think of it is as maintenance or mission. We can choose simply to maintain our level of faith or we can seek to learn more and to put new effort into our faith. What does this do for us? Let us use an analogy of a car. We drive a car and we must have maintenance done on it from time to time to keep it running. But if all we do is basic maintenance, the car will deteriorate over time till eventually it no longer runs and cannot be fixed. If we take that same car and don't just do the basic maintenance but put some real effort into taking care of it, it will last us a much longer time. Likewise, if all we do in our faith is attend church most Sundays and perhaps Christmas, we do indeed have some faith and perhaps can find God in the big moments. But if we put effort into our faith lives, then we find God in the little things and the everyday things. From this, our faith is continually renewed.

It is difficult to express what my faith has come to mean for me. I share what I have experienced in several different areas on this web page. The "About Me" section tells about me as an individual person, growing up, in seminary, and now as a priest. "Catholic Social Teaching" is a passion of mine to share what the church has to say about how we care for others and care for the world. "Ministry and Discipleship" shares what ministry means to me and what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

Enjoy.

Peace,

Fr. Jeff

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord make me an instrument of your peace

Where there is hatred . . . let me sow love.
Where there is injury . . . pardon.
Where there is doubt . . . faith.
Where there is despair . . . hope.
Where there is darkness . . . light.
Where there is sadness . . . joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To Be consoled . . . as to console,
To be understood . . . as to understand,
To be loved . . . as to love,

for
It is in giving . . . that we receive,
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
It is in dying . . . that we are born to eternal life.

May God Give You Many Blessings

This page last updated on August 15, 2011